Pokemon Silver Version

"Bidoof-Free Pokemon Fun"

If you thought Pokemon has been going downhill since Red and Blue, you either haven't played this game or you might be related to Jack Thompson. This game is great. There are 100 new pokemon and a lot of new features.

Graphics:9/10 The graphics in this game are pretty good. The main part of the game is in battles, and your opponent looks pretty dang good for an old handheld system. Your pokemon is shown from behind; it looks pretty good, but not as good as your opponent. It is a huge improvement from the views from behind in Red and Blue. When you aren't in a battle, you control the pokemon trainer that you named. One problem with the graphics in this game is your character is that he is all red. Even his skin. All of the other characters, even the NPCs has color, just not you. It seems lazy, but that's my only gripe about the graphics.

Story: 10/10 The story is pretty simple. If you're looking for a complicated plot with twists and tons of character development, this is the wrong game. The story goes like this: You're a kid between 10 and 14. You left home to become a pokemon master by getting 8 badges gained by defeating a gym leader in a pokemon battle. Along the way, you find that a pseudo-gangster group that abuses pokemon (their lives suck enough) is reforming. You have to beat them in pokemon battles to stop them. Once you beat all the gym leaders, you can take on the elite four and become the pokemon champion.

Gameplay:10/10 The gameplay is very addicting. In order to become the pokemon master, you have to catch them. You are given a pokemon at the beginning , which helps you catch other pokemon. To catch them, you have to weaken them (by attacking them) then throw a pokeball, which somehow reduces it to the size of an apple. Then it will obey your every command. Pokemon can only know 4 different moves. Each pokemon has a type, and certain moves are either strong, weak, or neutral to that type. It's the basic water beats fire thing. If you think about it, it's kind of cruel if you think about it. You find a pokemon, beat it within an inch of its life, imprison it in an apple sized ball, and then use it to beat up other pokemon and get beaten up itself. Then once you're done with it, you put it in a computer, never to see the light of day again. The lucky ones are just put directly into the computer just for the sick pleasure of "Catching 'em All". Others are forced to get beaten within an inch of their lives for one of four reasons: Your own dream of becoming a pokemon master, helping to ruin another pokemon's life, beating Tam rocket even though you probably abuse pokemon more than them, or just for your own, and another trainer's sick amusement. It's like slavery, but worse and yet I can't stop playing it.

Music: 9/10 The music is pretty memorable and nice to listen to. It adds to the atmosphere of the towns and battles. It can get kind of repetitive and is mostly made up of beeps. It doesn't matter much and if you really don't like it, you can just turn the sound down.

Replay Value 10/10 This game has very good replay value and is pretty long to boot. It's way longer than other pokemon games because you can go through Johto and Kanto. It's great to go through the game with a completely different team. You do spend a lot of time training your pokemon, but it is still very fun.

Overall-10/10 You should definitely buy this game whenever you see it at your local gamestop or maybe at a garage sale. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/08

Game Release: Pokemon Silver Version (US, 10/14/00)